American History and Genealogy Project

Civil War

Native American Tribes of the Mississippi Territory

CHOCTAW INDIANS

In 1861 Washington withheld annuity payments for fear that they would fall into Rebel hands. The Choctaw council assured the seceded states, "natural affections, education, institutions and interests" were with the Confederacy. By July of 1861 both the Choctaw and Chickasaw councils formed mounted rifle regiments and had signed an alliance treaty for and with the Confederacy. Indians were authorized to send delegates to the Confederate Congress. Indian territory was bounded on three sides by the Confederacy.

"About 200 Choctaw braves enlisted in the Confederate service early in 1863,
under the command of Major J.W. Pearce, and soon afterward were in an
engagement with the Union soldiers at Tangipaho, with disastrous results.
Many of the Indians and several of the white men officers were captured and
some of the Indians were taken north and put on exhibition. This put an end
to the battalion as an organization, which formally disbanded May 9, 1863, but
a transfer was made to Spann's battalion of independent scouts."

February 1899 - off site link - INDEX
to
Testimony of Mississippi Choctaw Applications, taken
in Mississippi in January and February, 1899

August 7, 1862 - "...At 9 A. M., arrived at Tangipaho 80 miles from New Orleans and 100 miles from Jackson, Miss. We were now in Louisiana. Camp Moore is a short distance from the station, and we disembarked and took up quarters in the Camp.....There is a stream circling the camp of the clearest water I ever saw." - The diary of John S. Jackman of the Orphan Brigade, p. 53.
See map of Mississippi that indicates Tangipaho and the railroad.

Sources

A People's History of The Civil War, struggles for the meaning of freedom. David Williams, c. 2005.

Diary of a Confederate Soldier, John S. Jackman of the Orphan Brigade, William C. Davis, c. 1990.